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UK investigates Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony over game service practices
Do you feel that game console giants hold you over a barrel by making you subscribe to a service to play online? You might have an ally in your corner. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to see if their online service practices violate consumer protection law. It wants to know whether their auto-renewal policies are fair, how easy it is to get a refund (or cancellation) and whether or not the terms of service grant these companies too much power.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4' gets a second battle royale map tomorrow
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout battle royale mode is about to get a new map. The second arena in which players will duke it out for supremacy is Alcatraz. The map hits PS4 tomorrow and will arrive on other platforms later.
Now Amazon's Twitch Prime comes with a year of Switch Online
Amazon keeps tweaking the benefits of its Twitch Prime package for Prime customers with moves like adding free games and taking away ad-free streams. The latest change will be particular appealing to certain gamers, as it's teamed up with Nintendo to dangle up to a year of free Switch Online service with the package.
'Dance Central' arrives on Oculus this spring
You might have felt like you had cutting-edge moves when you boogied through Dance Central -- thanks to the Kinect -- on Xbox 360, or when you downloaded it on your Kinect-less Xbox One. But soon, you'll be able to tear it up in virtual reality. Harmonix is bringing Dance Central to VR this spring. It'll be available on Oculus Rift and Oculus Rift S, and it's set to be a launch title on the forthcoming Oculus Quest.
A new 'Black Ops 4' edition includes only multiplayer and Blackout
Activision is trying something a little different with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: It's selling a $30 version that drops the Zombies mode, and only includes standard multiplayer and the popular battle royale mode, Blackout. Bad luck if you're a console player, though -- the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Battle Edition is PC-only for the time being.
Bunch lets you video chat while playing mobile games
Live gaming with friends via console is nothing new, but as more live games come to mobile, there's a gap in the market for better experiences to connect friends that want to play together on this platform as well. Enter Bunch, an app that lets users play mobile games with friends over video chat.
'Red Dead Online' arrives this November
If you're preparing to strap on your cowboy boots and venture into the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 when the sequel hits consoles at the end of next month, you'll have to wait a little longer to play the game's online mode. Rockstar Games said that Red Dead Online will arrive in November, and it will be a public beta at first.
Nintendo's Switch Online service launches September 18th
Nintendo has finally revealed when its Switch Online service will be available -- and with only a few days left to go. The $20 per year subscription service will go live on September 18th (19th in Europe), with a week-long free trial available from the eShop at launch. Many of the launch details are under wraps, such as the games that will require a subscription to play, but Nintendo promises to shed more light on the subject with a Direct presentation on the 13th at 6PM Eastern.
SNES Party lets you play classic ROMs with friends online
Nintendo promised online play for the retro games it'll make available via the Switch's online service, but if you'd rather not wait until this September for that, there's an unofficial way to play games of yore over the internet. It's through an emulator called SNES Party. "SNES Party is an experimental way to play SNES games with your friends online all from within your browser using WebRTC," the developers write. It works pretty well too.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4' beta tests begin August 3rd
You don't have too long to wait to see how Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 fares as a multiplayer-only game. Activision and Treyarch have outlined the schedule for beta tests, and it's clear that some gamers will have better access than others. The first tests kick off August 3rd at 1PM Eastern, when PS4 pre-orders will have exclusive access until this initial run ends on August 6th at the same time. Xbox One and PC customers will have to wait until August 10th at 1PM Eastern to have their turn, although you won't need a pre-order if you're patient -- an open PC beta starts one day later. This second round of testing ends August 13th at 1PM Eastern.
How to optimize your online gaming setup
Whether you play Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or Overwatch, you're going to want as little latency as possible between your hands and the game's servers. While you can't really account for how reliable your ISP is, by making a few smart choices you can ensure that your side of the equation is as speedy as possible. Everything from your controller to your keyboard and mouse to your display and router can affect how long it takes for a game to recognize when you put a few rounds at an enemy. It might not seem like a big deal at first, but every millisecond of delay adds up and could mean the difference between that ever-elusive chicken dinner in PUBG and going home hungry. Let's take a look at a few things you can do to optimize your online gaming experience at home.
'PUBG' celebrates 50 million sales with first Steam discount
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now enjoying its first Steam sale since launch. According to a recent Steam update, the price reduction -- a 33% discount which brings the price of admission down to $19.99 -- honors an important milestone: 50 million global sales.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4' tweaks a familiar multiplayer formula
Call of Duty: WWII was a breath of fresh air after the weirdness what was Infinite Warfare. The return to historical battles was a welcome change after a (thankfully) brief trip to space. For 2018, the series is back in the hands of Treyarch, which means a new installment of Black Ops. The studio, along with publisher Activision, already took the wraps off the game a few weeks ago. Perhaps most importantly, the duo revealed that the single-player campaign would be replaced by a PUBG-esque battle royale mode. Of course, the popular CoD multiplayer isn't going anywhere, and that's what Activision is showing off at E3 this week.
'Super Mario Party' is ready to ruin your friendships October 5th
Nintendo is reviving Mario Party. Super Mario Party will be released this October 5th and from the looks of it, the game will make use of special Switch features we haven't seen before. One section of the video showed two Switch screens laying face up on a table. From a top-down perspective, the screens resembled a board game, with players entering one familiar green warp pipe on one screen, and popping up on the other screen via said warp pipe. Apparently you can align the screens differently to create different paths.
HTC brings multiplayer VR games to Dave & Busters this month
Playing games in virtual reality can feel kinda anti-social, even when your buddies are in the same room. You're probably locked into a world only you can see properly, and you'll likely be wearing headphones for true immersion. But, if you want to jump into a virtual experience with your buddies in the same place, you'll get to do so at Dave & Buster's arcades very soon.
Valve adds more flexibility to 'Dota 2' pro competitions
The world of eSports is growing at a rapid pace. Games like League of Legends and CS:GO are becoming more mainstream by the day. While Dota 2 holds the record for the highest total eSports prize money but Valve feels its competitive scene has lacked structure. To rectify that, it's unveiled a number of changes that it hopes will legitimize its Dota Pro Circuit (DPC).
'Battlefield V' returns to WWII with ever-evolving multiplayer
Games in the Battlefield franchise have covered conflicts from the Vietnam War to a fictional future in 2142. Developer EA DICE took the series into new territory in 2016 with the well-received Battlefield 1, setting the game in the rarely touched World War I era. For the next installment, Battlefield V (let's just not talk about the naming convention) returns to where the franchise started: World War II. As you know, the conflict comes up time and time again in films and games, but DICE hopes Battlefield V will tell some of its untold stories, and link these narratives to an ever-changing multiplayer experience intended to keep players interested, and logging back into the fight. Oh, and you won't have pay for the privilege of new content either.
'Stardew Valley' finally lets you farm with your friends
Stardew Valley fans, take note: You can finally put your friends to work in the farming sim, whether you have them hack away at your errant rocks, plant seeds or partner with you at the Flower Dance. The long-awaited multiplayer beta has finally arrived.
'Destiny 2' March update brings the thrill back to competitive play
Bungie has spent much of its recent time addressing gripes with Destiny 2's story and cooperative play, but players in the competitive Crucible mode? Not so much -- some have complained that the Crucible just isn't that exciting, and the infamous Prometheus Lens incident arguably wouldn't have happened if Bungie had been paying closer attention to Crucible gameplay. You might not have that complaint for much longer, though. The studio has detailed some of the changes coming with the March 27th update, and a large chunk of them are designed to ratchet up the intensity of player-versus-player fights.
Epic pins 'Fortnite' server woes on Meltdown patches
The Meltdown vulnerability is bound to have far-reaching effects on the computing industry, but it's having a very tangible effect right now: it's causing chaos for multiplayer gaming. Epic Games has blamed Meltdown patches for login problems and downtime in Fortnite, pointing to the increased processor use at the third-party cloud services the battle royale component of the game needs to run. There may be other "unexpected issues" over the next week as other services are updated, Epic said.
